Shnayim Yomi - Bamidbar - Shishi - #6 - Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff - More Than Just a Name

The sixth aliyah of parasha adds a certain word that doesn't seem to fit in at all. It's talking about counting, taking a census of young levim from 30 days old. These are firstborns who are redeemed by the cohen. And we see over here that this mid of pigen mentions shim. They should be admissar literally s means to count but it means to lift up. So they seem to be lifted up by the numbers of their names. Okay I hear if you count someone they feel lifted up. We spoke about that this week already. But why by names? So the name that you have your actual name reflects a lot about you. You know the Hebrew word for a soul is a nishama. And in the word nishama, the middle two letters are shem, your name. That's because your name reflects your soul mission. Many of you are watching may be named after a grandfather like I am, by a great aunt, by someone who lost their lives in the show and the holocaust. Maybe by the time of year they were born. Boys born around Purima or Morai. Girls could be hadasa or Esther. We see this is a beautiful cuffs among the Jewish people. But there's a lot of depth over here. These aren't just names. The name you have reflects your mission. That means if your name is Manahim, there's something about you that's got to bring consolation to the world. If your name is Shashana, there's something about you that's going to bring a lot of agricultural beauty maybe into your life. I don't know. But really, your name can speak volumes about who you are. But not just your actual name, also the name that you have. How are you known? When people hear your name, even if when you're not there, how do they feel? Just does the mention of your name lift them up? Does the mention of your name maybe depress them, upset them? What you want to do, say, is every time someone hears your shem, your name, they should feel uplifted and say that is someone I'm happy to know and to be friends with. That's the kind of name you want to carry with you in this world. definitely say schlma into the next world because a good name is like fine oil. It always rises up to the top and that's the kind of name we the Jewish people want to carry with us through this world and into the next.